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Stax Vs. Motown

Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts
edited October 2005 in Music Talk
My vote goes to Stax. Why? Maybe because I found more breaks/samples on Stax than on the Motown label. Let's build....
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  • gambitgambit 906 Posts
    I'm biased - Motown... for many records that I listen to every day. I only have a couple Stax releases that I enjoy enough to play regularly.
  • Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts
    I'm biased - Motown...
    Location-Detroit
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    Atlantic, batches
  • djrdjr 511 Posts
    Atlantic, batches

    I agree. This label continually surprises me.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    My vote goes to Stax. Why? Maybe because I found more breaks/samples on Stax than on the Motown label.

    With all due respect to all the hip-hop producers on this board, buying a Stax record ONLY for breakbeats is like going to a five-star restaurant just to take a shit***. Al Jackson and Willie Hall were incredible drummers, true, and I realize that some folks have to look at everything from the hip-hop perspective, but come on, people!!

    With that out of the way...I enjoy both equally, but I lean in the Stax direction because oldies radio hasn't worked them to death like they did with Motown.

    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
    ***apologies to the Soul Strutter who used this analogy first - I think it was in a thread about the Jackson 5
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
  • DubiousDubious 1,865 Posts
    ive got that first volume of the complete motown singles.. shockingly inept for the most part.. more fast forwarding than ive ever done on a comp... every second track sounds like a rewrite of the locomotion.


  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Atlantic, batches

    Guess that means you'll vote for Stax, then?
  • gambitgambit 906 Posts
    I'm biased - Motown...
    Location-Detroit
    True, I grew up on the shit, but most of the stuff I dig now I didn't grow up with... like Trouble Man, Gordon Staples' LP and a couple others.

    I've traded and sold a few of my Stax releases since I didn't like them that much.
  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    I have a motown box set but it has talking at the beginning and end of each song which really kills the songs for me. There are some cool quotes from the different artists talking about their tracks, but why the fuck they put the talking over the music fucking escapes me.
  • gruntgravelgruntgravel 559 Posts
    STAX! Motown never put out anything like Black Nasty.
  • ZeusZeus 162 Posts
    I enjoy both equally, but I lean in the Stax direction because oldies radio hasn't worked them to death like they did with Motown.

    Cosign. STAX for dayyyysssssssssss..........
  • BreakSelfBreakSelf 2,925 Posts
    STAX! Motown never put out anything like Black Nasty.

    ...and Stax never put out anything like "People, Hold On"
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    They always get compared, but I don't even know if it's fair, just because Motown has SO many more releases. Alot of the Motown heat comes in the early 70's, when Stax was putting out some good stuff, but not the volume or quality of Motown of that time. If you went through Motown's catalog & dismissed every heavily pop record, kept only the true soul stuff, you would have a pretty fierce battle on your hands. People dismiss Motown as soft or pop or the most absurd one of all, "soul for white people" and it's all bullshit. Motown has one seriously hardcore catalog. Way too much to ever even keep in print.

    BTW although I have been jocking Motown through this whole post, I am an all-out Stax junkie, so don't get it twisted. I just think the comparison is unfair, because Motown has like 7x the releases to choose from. Compare Stax to Mala/Bell/Amy or something, and let's really get down to it.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I just think the comparison (between Stax and Motown) is unfair, because Motown has like 7x the releases to choose from.

    Only because Stax went out of business in 1975 and Motown is still with us.

    If you compare both labels based on what they did between 1960-75, both Stax and Motown were pretty much on an even level.

    Compare Stax to Mala/Bell/Amy or something, and let's really get down to it.

    Now that'd REALLY be unfair, 'cause in the 70's Bell damn near stopped releasing black music altogether.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    I just think the comparison (between Stax and Motown) is unfair, because Motown has like 7x the releases to choose from.

    Only because Stax went out of business in 1975 and Motown is still with us.

    If you compare both labels based on what they did between 1960-75, both Stax and Motown were pretty much on an even level.


    Well, a quick check of the discogs at BSN shows me over 450 LP's[/b] released by Motown/Tamla/Soul/Gordy/Rare Earth/VIP from 1961-1975 - and that leaves 5 years of CTI, Black Voice, and around 10 other labels unaccounted for.

    1962-1975 for Stax/Volt/Enterprise, even throwing in the ATCO distributed stuff like Arthur Conley, Otis' "Pain In My Heart," etc, only gets me to just shy of 200 LP's[/b].

    That shows my "7x" figure to be more than a bit of hyperbole, but still I think my point stands. Stax was big, but Motown was massive.

    Personally, I like them both pretty much the same, which is alot.
  • SexyBNyceSexyBNyce 371 Posts
    motown-but its a matter of taste I guess.
  • Ayrotollah77Ayrotollah77 415 Posts
    The Funk Brothers..I love Stax too though..Rufus thomas
  • ShingalingShingaling 877 Posts
    NOT AGAIN!!!
  • mrfinewinemrfinewine 157 Posts
    wow, i've always hated this argument. as a lover of both labels, i've got to give the nod to motown, though, because there's just more of it, and a hell of a lot more variety in it. but the standard line that some folks spew about how motown is so "white-sounding" and "poppy" compared with the "gritty," "blacker" stax is demonstrably false.

    m
  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    gotta go with Motown by a hair.
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    stax

    stax

    stax


    but i do enjoy enjoy me some motown and atlantic....
  • secondlinesecondline 64 Posts
    i'm feelin STAX...
    i dig Motown, but something about the early surfy sounding soul (booker, mar-keys, the truimphs) and the soul doo-wop vocal group stuff (the del-rios, chips, drapels) hits a soft spot for me.

    i do have to say though, some of the people who ripped off (AKA, were influenced by) the Motown sound, have put out some of my favorite soul cuts.

    nonetheless,
    stax it is.


    g
  • DrWuDrWu 4,021 Posts
    Stax because of the funkiness factor. A silly question because both are so extraordinary. If you only talked about stevie and marvin's motown releases you would be talking about one of the great labels of all time.
  • mrfinewinemrfinewine 157 Posts
    could it be that because a lot of great motown stuff is on 45 and there's no equivalent to the stax boxes 1, 2, and 3 that people think stax is better? motown is endlessly deep. funky, doo-woppy, soulful, surfy...it's all there, believe me.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I just think the comparison (between Stax and Motown) is unfair, because Motown has like 7x the releases to choose from.

    Only because Stax went out of business in 1975 and Motown is still with us.

    If you compare both labels based on what they did between 1960-75, both Stax and Motown were pretty much on an even level.


    Well, a quick check of the discogs at BSN shows me over 450 LP's[/b] released by Motown/Tamla/Soul/Gordy/Rare Earth/VIP from 1961-1975

    1962-1975 for Stax/Volt/Enterprise only gets me to just shy of 200 LP's[/b].

    You may be right, but why on earth would you judge Stax and Motown by albums? That's like judging Blue Note by SINGLES! Even when you consider things like What's Going On and Hot Buttered Soul, Stax and Motown were pretty much singles-oriented. This wasn't jazz!
  • secondlinesecondline 64 Posts
    could it be that because a lot of great motown stuff is on 45 and there's no equivalent to the stax boxes 1, 2, and 3 that people think stax is better? motown is endlessly deep. funky, doo-woppy, soulful, surfy...it's all there, believe me.


    stax has a gang of 45s and even though the boxes hipped alot of cats, that doesn't mean the 45s aren't out there for the getting.
  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    could it be that because a lot of great motown stuff is on 45 and there's no equivalent to the stax boxes 1, 2, and 3 that people think stax is better? motown is endlessly deep. funky, doo-woppy, soulful, surfy...it's all there, believe me.


    I think most people automatically think 'Supremes' & 'Dancing in the Streets' when they hear the word 'Motown' - on a funk&braeks-oriented forum it's only understandable that most votes would go towards Stax.

    Personally, I get bored hearing the generic chord changes & horn voicings that Stax relied on so heavily, sure Motown records are often over-arranged & too-busy, but at least they were always trying something different. The psychedelic-soul era was esp fruitful for Motown.

    In terms of oldies radio I'd say that 'Soulfinger', 'Soul Man', 'Hold on I'm Coming' & 'Dock of the Bay' are at least as overplayed as 'Where Did Our Love Go?', 'Tracks of My Tears' etc.



    ---
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    My emmidate thought was STAX, no contest. After reading these posts I will say, the core Stax sound, Booker T & MGs with Otis, Pickett, Sam & Dave hits me harder than the core Motown sound of the Supremes and the Miricles.

    As has been pointed out, Motown was broader and deeper. Gaye and Wonder and Whitfield did far more as artists and producers than any Stax artist or producer.

    Smokey and Gordy and Holland Dozier Holland were far more sophisticated songwriters than anyone at Stax.

    Stax I think is more comparable to Duke. A smaller pool of musicians and writers and artists than Motown. Stax and Duke had a stronger Southern blues foundation than Motown. Motown is more urban sophisticate.

    Dan
  • ShingalingShingaling 877 Posts

    This man could be the only artist ever to record for Stax and I would still go with Stax.

    Can anyone think of another artist that recorded for both labels besides this lady?
  • Strider79itStrider79it 1,176 Posts

    my taste is for the post-what's goin on-motown, although I love stax too
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